Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A Better Day

For the first time, I got to visit the babies all alone during the morning visit. Brooke had to go in to her work today, since she left rather suddenly when her water broke back in the middle of June. When she got there, she found that they were throwing her a surprise baby shower! And what a shower it was! They gave her all sorts of great gifts and had a cake and made her feel truly happy. It was the first time that she’s actually celebrated the babies—every time she’s tried to be happy about things prior to now something has happened to put a damper on it. So to the fine folks at Genmab, thank you; you really are the best!

On to baby updates:

Lily’s stay on BiPAP lasted approximately five hours. Her respirator tube got clogged around 6 pm yesterday and they decided to try the BiPAP. Lily did not like that too much. She had episodes and dropped her heart rate and respiration, and she just seemed unhappy. So the on-call doctor decided that poor Lily Bug needed the respirator. They put in a wider respirator tube, and so far it’s working great. Her oxygen numbers are better than they’ve ever been. Plus, she now is eating 10 ml of breast milk so she’s putting on weight consistently. She’s now up to 890 grams and is filling out really well.

Charlie continues to be exactly the same. He’s eating a lot (18 ml) and sleeping a lot on his belly. He continues on the respirator. Dr. Hiatt says that he’ll stay on the respirator until he reaches 1200 grams, which isn’t too far off—he’s at 1020 grams today. When he’s ready, he’ll get some steroid shots to help his lungs and then try the BiPAP. Besides his breathing and his eating, the other thing that remains consistent with Charlie is his amazing cuteness. Obviously we’re biased, but everyone who sees him swears that he’s adorable—even the nurses who are around babies all day say that he’s cutest one there. He must take after his daddy. (And Brooke continues to gawk about Charlie’s beautiful eyebrows. Really, it’s kind of weird how much she talks about them.)

Annaleigh is right where she was a couple days ago. She’s not eating because she’s having so many digestive issues. Her belly remains distended though not as badly as it was. Tomorrow she’s going to have a field trip to the radiology department for a special x-ray. Basically, the doctors are going to inject her with some dye that absorbs moisture from her GI tract and glows on the x-ray screens. They’ll use that to track the path of the dye and see what’s holding up her poop from being normal. Dr. Hiatt says that the test is as much medical as it is diagnostic, so we’re anxious for this tomorrow.

We had a nice visit tonight with the babies. There were no last-minute oxygen drops, no breathing issues… it was very pleasant. Let’s hope all our visits are like this one!

PS: Thanks to all for suggesting that we look into the free parking issue. Turns out, our friends Christina and Doug called today because they wanted to pre-pay our parking for us (how nice is that?!). They were told that we could get free parking passes from the charge nurse in the NICU. We asked about it and should have it ready tomorrow. So thanks Christina and Doug-- you just saved us a boatload of money!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe and Brooke,
This is Carolyn.
What an exciting day, huh...
Congrats Brooke w/ the shower, you deserve that. It's really nice to see all the friends at work I'm sure, and to see how much they care about you and your family. I know you needed that.
You are all in my prayers daily and everything seems to be going pretty smooth for the most part. Remember, your babies are a product of a both of you, they are troopers. I can't wait to get my hands on them. Cayden can't wait to pet them. He's at a stage where he knows babies are delicate so he pets their heads. It's too cute. We can't wait to see you all soon.
Keep those blogs coming Joe, you are an amazing writer!!!

Amber said...

They all are getting bigger by the day it seems. Charlie looks like a different babies from just a few days ago. They all are beautiful. Keep up the good work mom and dad.

Sarah - The Home Cook said...

I continue to marvel at the babies - they're doing great! I can see such a huge improvement in their size/weight just from looking at the photos. You really notice it with Charlie but they all look great. :)

And yay for the free parking. I'd hope that they would do something for NICU parents...I'm just sorry you've been paying that money for all this time.

Colleen said...

Glad to hear you all had a relatively good day! That is so nice of Brooke's co-workers to throw her a shower, they sound awesome and I am so glad she works at a place like that!

I particularly love the picture of Charlie today, without all the things around his head I can see his beautiful face!

Anonymous said...

I have trips too...and just wanted to tell your our DD had many digestion issues while in the NICU...they finally did Erithromycin (sp?) therapy with her. A side effect of that antibiotic is it stimulates the gut...pushing everything thru. The risk of giving it to preemies is it may cause pyloric stenosis to develop (projectile vomiting)....but the pyloric stenosis is treated fairly easily...so..the benefit outweighed the risk...our girl didnt develop the stenosis. And she still has to have the erithromycin before every meal...We see a GI for her still...but shes 10months old...and tha keeps her tummy going. The use of it for that is fairly new. She was the first baby treated with that therapy in the NICU....but..she needed somthing to help jumpstart her tummy and put onsome weight....
Just thought Id share that...and you could mention to your DR if that is orwill be a possibility. They dont attempt to do that til 30 weeks gestation though...Youll be there before you know it. :)
Prayers coming your way.

GLTP Reflections said...

Hi Joe and Brooke,

I just wanted to let you know that the whole Ranello family has you and your little ones in our prayers constantly. Every morning I come on and I appreciate the blog very much. I can't wait until next year when the trio gets to see their first Challenger Little League game.

Always in my thoughts,
Tammy Ranello (Joe Ranello's mom)

Andrea said...

I am glad to read all of your updates! The babies all seem like they are doing great!! And I am glad that the hospital gives out parking passes, but it was really really nice of your friends to try and pay it for you. Sounds like you are blessed with great friends.

Andrea
edasmommy0709 from the private board
Twin boys born at 27w6d